One business owner is not happy with the results of the 2020 presidential election and he's letting patrons know about it.
"I don't want them in there and I don't want to have to pretend that they have respect for me, so I'm gonna show disrespect for them," the owner of Elmhurst Cigar House in Chicago told a reporter.
"Don't come in my store. Tell your friends," he continued. "I don't want you in the store, I don't want you near me."
While some find the sign appalling, the owner, Shaun Thompson, said he's exercising his right to free speech.
Jalila Jefferson-Bullock, associate professor at Duquesne University School of Law, told KDKA Radio's Lynne Hayes-Freeland that while the business owner does appear to be within his rights to hang such a sign, she said it's very strange.
"There are certain public accommodation laws that any business owner is going to have to abide by, usually - they're gonna vary depending upon the locality - but usually, they would say that you can't say that folks can't come in because of race, religion, gender, sometimes gender identity, those types of things, but I don't know of any that would say that you're prohibited from discriminating on the basis of political choice," she said.
Jefferson-Bullock continued, "It seems as if he can put that type of sign in his window, but the question for me is how is he going to enforce that?"
She said it's a very bizarre scenario and the enforcement of such a stipulation by the owner could potentially lead to some kind of sanction or could in some way be illegal.
Thompson has said he that he's not concerned about losing business over his stance, that he would simply smoke the cigars himself.
"That may very well be where he ends up at the end of the day... smoking those cigars all by himself with no business," said Jefferson-Bullock.
